DELL - No longer the build your own PC option?

Dinarius

Just been looking at the DELL site for the first time in ages - half a thought I might buy a new desktop.

The old "build your own" PC option seems to be gone - unless I'm going blind.

Have had fantastic service from my existing DELL desktop, and would only change for a few things - lots more (faster) RAM and faster USB. This one is USB 2.0. :mad:

Anyway, if not DELL, who else?

Thanks.

D. (Dublin based)

jca

Thinking of doing the same myself but couldn't find any options either. If I get 9 years out of my next one I'll be doing well.

Slippin Jimmy

Dinarius wrote: »

Just been looking at the DELL site for the first time in ages - half a thought I might buy a new desktop.

The old "build your own" PC option seems to be gone - unless I'm going blind.

Have had fantastic service from my existing DELL desktop, and would only change for a few things - lots more (faster) RAM and faster USB. This one is USB 2.0. :mad:

Anyway, if not DELL, who else?

Thanks.

D. (Dublin based)

Noticed this myself. Was one of the best things about dell.

Dinarius

Duffff-Man wrote: »

Noticed this myself. Was one of the best things about dell.

Couldn't agree more.

I couldn't be a**ed trying to deal with someone on the phone, or dealing with a reseller.

Being able to custom build a PC, at your leisure, was their USP, as far as I'm concerned.

If it's gone, it's not good.

D.

Dinarius

Ps. That said...this is a lot of PC for the money.

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/xps-8700/pd?oc=cdx8723&model_id=xps-8700

D.

jca

Dinarius wrote: »

Ps. That said...this is a lot of PC for the money.

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/xps-8700/pd?oc=cdx8723&model_id=xps-8700

D.

:eek::eek: Slightly exceeding my price range!!

degsie

Dinarius wrote: »

Being able to custom build a PC, at your leisure, was their USP, as far as I'm concerned.
D.

Had to google that...:P

SimonTemplar

Dinarius wrote: »

Just been looking at the DELL site for the first time in ages - half a thought I might buy a new desktop.

The old "build your own" PC option seems to be gone - unless I'm going blind.

Have had fantastic service from my existing DELL desktop, and would only change for a few things - lots more (faster) RAM and faster USB. This one is USB 2.0. :mad:

Anyway, if not DELL, who else?

Thanks.

D. (Dublin based)

I built my own PC. Obviously not as convenient as buying an assembled product but you have full control over what you spend your money on and the specs of your machine.

There is a dedicated forum on boards if u are interested.

Grab All Association

I stopped buying Dell/Alienware the day they moved production to Lodz. Lenovo ever since. Lenovo allow you to build your PC.

john the one

Building a PC is now lego blocks together, plus when adding/upgrading you know how and its cheaper and you have more choice!

This time last year I knew very little about computers.

Now...well now I still know very little but I built a PC and have ordered new parts for upgrading ALL because the boards PC building forum.

Dinarius

Thanks guys.

The thought of building terrifies me.

But, you never know......

Will look into Lenovo too.

HNY!

D.

jca

Any good guys? http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-3847-desktop/pd?oc=cd84703&model_id=inspiron-3847-desktop

Seems to be a decent future-proof spec.

200motels

Dinarius wrote: »

Just been looking at the DELL site for the first time in ages - half a thought I might buy a new desktop.

The old "build your own" PC option seems to be gone - unless I'm going blind.

Have had fantastic service from my existing DELL desktop, and would only change for a few things - lots more (faster) RAM and faster USB. This one is USB 2.0. :mad:

Anyway, if not DELL, who else?

Thanks.

D. (Dublin based)

This company are excellent. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

jca

200motels wrote: »

This company are excellent. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

Very expensive though.

Long Gone

jca wrote: »

Very expensive though.

You get what you pay for. Do you remember that cheap Amstrad rubbish back in the 80's ? - The skip was the only place for that....

jca

Long Gone wrote: »

You get what you pay for. Do you remember that cheap Amstrad rubbish back in the 80's ? - The skip was the only place for that....

The Dell I'm at the pip of buying has an i5 processor, 8 gig Ram, a seperate graphics card and a 1 terabyte HDD for 549. There's no chance of me getting a better deal anywhere else.

IrlMonk

Dinarius wrote: »

Just been looking at the DELL site for the first time in ages - half a thought I might buy a new desktop.

The old "build your own" PC option seems to be gone - unless I'm going blind.

Have had fantastic service from my existing DELL desktop, and would only change for a few things - lots more (faster) RAM and faster USB. This one is USB 2.0. :mad:

Anyway, if not DELL, who else?

Thanks.

D. (Dublin based)

Hi,
your not going blind, your just blind to the fact that building your own pc is very rewarding.
after about 2 weeks of research you will be totally educated to pc parts and what goes where, and why.
you pick and choose (customize) your whole system.
pc building is the same as it was 20 years ago, nothing different.
Nowadays you can pick and choose everything, get them delivered to your doorstep and put it together within a day if you are totally not familiar with the process.
Check this thread out, a father and son project...the man had not got a clue. His reward!!! far exceeds the phone call to Dell or the likes.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057349260

Pc Building and Upgrade forum on boards.
Give budget and use of PC, they'll give you the parts list
Go to hardwareversands.de and purchase, for another 20 euro they'll put it together

briany

john the one wrote: »

Building a PC is now lego blocks together, plus when adding/upgrading you know how and its cheaper and you have more choice!

This time last year I knew very little about computers.

Now...well now I still know very little but I built a PC and have ordered new parts for upgrading ALL because the boards PC building forum.

Building a home PC since the start of the 90s, at least, has been Lego blocks together, it's just in the 90s, you had a lot less support if anything went wrong. There were a few more cards to slot in, less avenues to buy the parts and they were considerably more expensive, but the basic process once you had the parts has changed remarkably little.

Newegg have a whole tutorial on how to build a PC there on Youtube which will take you from the very basics to being able to confidently put together a build in about 2 hours. It's time well spent if you use PCs a lot because it's good to know how the insides of the thing function. A person could leave themselves in total ignorance of that kind of thing and end up paying a computer tech rip-off money for a job that is actually totally trivial to perform. Same thing as a car where if you don't know anything about its workings you can get taken by a sly mechanic.

Dinarius

200motels wrote: »

This company are excellent. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

The laptop I'm typing this reply on was built by PC Specialist.

It's basically a Porsche with a keyboard and was a treat to myself.

They are excellent.

But, I would probably go the DELL, or build your own route for any new desktop.

D.

Ps. and thanks for all the "build your own" advice.

TerrorFirmer

jca wrote: »

The Dell I'm at the pip of buying has an i5 processor, 8 gig Ram, a seperate graphics card and a 1 terabyte HDD for 549. There's no chance of me getting a better deal anywhere else.

That seperate card - the GT705 - is a joke, no idea why it even exists as the onboard Intel 4600 with the i5 is much faster.

briany

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

That seperate card - the GT705 - is a joke, no idea why it even exists as the onboard Intel 4600 with the i5 is much faster.

You can't even get those cards off the shelf. They're sort of custom cards, but without any of the benefits one would normally think of when they hear the word 'custom'.

200motels

Dinarius wrote: »

The laptop I'm typing this reply on was built by PC Specialist.

It's basically a Porsche with a keyboard and was a treat to myself.

They are excellent.

But, I would probably go the DELL, or build your own route for any new desktop.

D.

Ps. and thanks for all the "build your own" advice.

They built my PC as I was too lazy to build my own and it's an excellent PC, boots in 10 secs on Windows 7.

I'm assuming that you have an SSD then. All SSD based pc's will boot in seconds.

Seriously don't know why people will pay for a company (with large mark up) to get a custom rig when it's so easy to DIY a great rig. Just ask the, honestly, extremely helpful guys in our own forum.
They even will physically help you put it together, if you want to learn how to do it.
If not then small fee €20 and HVS will do it


Apologies, don't know too much about PC Specialists but making an assumption

Dinarius

My PC Specialist build is a laptop. SSD also. With my UPC connection, I can boot up, start Outlook and download a couple of hundred emails, all within about 30 seconds. Very fast. Basically, anything this laptop does is within the blink of an eye.

If I get a new desktop, I think I will go the "build your own" route. I'm a photographer, and I'd like something with a lot more grunt that can move around files up to 2Gb with ease.

I don't use my desktop for anything else except photo and video editing.

D.

kippy

Dinarius wrote: »

My PC Specialist build is a laptop. SSD also. With my UPC connection, I can boot up, start Outlook and download a couple of hundred emails, all within about 30 seconds. Very fast. Basically, anything this laptop does is within the blink of an eye.

If I get a new desktop, I think I will go the "build your own" route. I'm a photographer, and I'd like something with a lot more grunt that can move around files up to 2Gb with ease.

I don't use my desktop for anything else except photo and video editing.

D.

Head over to the pc building and upgrading forum for advice if required.
This site provides hardware of all types as well as fully built systems. You can purchas all the parts individually and they will build it for 20 euro. They ship to Ireland.
Its a well used site by members here.
http://www.hardwareversand.de

Oafley Jones

200motels wrote: »

This company are excellent. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

They've visitor stats on their page. I genuinely can't remember the last time I've seen that.... maybe early 00s.